Spacked Out 無人駕駛 (2K Restoration)
UK Premiere, 25th Anniversary
17 Sept 2025 (Wed)
6.30pm, Rio Cinema
Hong Kong | 2000 | Colour | 90’ | In Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
Dir.: Lawrence Lau 劉國昌
Cast: Debby Tam 譚潔雯, Angela Au 歐文詩, Christy Cheung 張詠妍, Maggie Poon 潘美琪
On the 25th anniversary of its release, we celebrate Spacked Out – a rarely-seen landmark of Hong Kong independent cinema and a vivid time capsule of early 2000s fashion and culture. Channelling the punkish energy of 1990s productions like Made in Hong Kong (Fruit Chan, 1997) and Kids (Larry Clark, 1995), Spacked Out follows four teenage girls wandering around Tuen Mun, spending their days hustling for cash, taking drugs, and sleeping around: preferring the company of delinquents and triads over their parents, teachers, and unsupportive institutions. After 13-year-old Cookie has a pregnancy scare, the group come together to help secure an abortion.
Given a rare adults-only age rating for its honest representation of youth rebellion, Spacked Out remains a riotous piece of social realism, a testament to found family, and a vital documentation of life for Hong Kong’s angry, queer, and disillusioned teenagers in the uncertain years after the 1997 handover to China. Produced by Johnnie To.
With an introduction before screening. Programmed and presented in partnership with Queer East.
